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PRACTICAL TRAVELER: THE 55-M.P.H. SPEED LIMIT

By PAUL GRIMES

Published: December 26, 1982

If you are driving at the 55-mile-an-hour legal speed limit on New York's Gov. Thomas E. Dewey Thruway and you seem to be overtaken by every other vehicle on the road, you probably are. According to the latest available statistics of the Federal Highway Administration - for April through June of 1982 - a total of 83 percent of the vehicles monitored on the Interstate System in New York State were clocked at speeds exceeding 55 m.p.h.

This figure, one of the highest in the nation for Interstates, is symptomatic of a major dilemma facing many long-distance drivers: ''As a generally law-abiding citizen, should I rigidly observe the Federally imposed speed limit, or should I go along with the pack, assuming that because so many disregard the law, few presumably are being caught?''

The dilemma seems largely confined to Interstates. Based on statistics for roads of all sorts where a speed of 55 m.p.h. is permitted, most drivers across the country do observe that limit, and New York's record is one of the best. ''What we're seeing is a return to slightly faster traffic on roads that were designed for speeds over 60 miles per hour,'' said Woodrow W. Rankin of the Highway Users Federation, a Washington-based nonprofit group that favors retention of the limit on the grounds of safety.

Of deeper concern, Mr. Rankin said, are the drivers (almost 8 percent) who exceed 65 on roads posted for 55. ''This is a dangerous trend,'' he said. ''If it continues, it will mean more traffic accidents.''

For the long-distance driver, speeds above 55 m.p.h. on highways built to handle them safely can make quite a difference. They can sometimes shave many boring hours from an otherwise delightful vacation. Many drivers, however, are deeply committed to obeying the law, no matter how unreasonable it may seem, and virtually no one is willing to mar a vacation by being fined for speeding and, as a result, facing higher insurance rates.

A decade ago, according to the Highway Users Federation, nearly 70 percent of vehicles on major rural roads exceeded 55. Two states - Montana and Nevada - had no speed limits, and some states permitted up to 75 on Interstates. New York's limit was 65 along most of the Thruway.

In 1974, however, to conserve fuel as a result of the Arab oil embargo, Congress passed legislation requiring states to establish 55 as the maximum speed limit or lose all Federal aid for highways. ''Initial motorist compliance was good,'' the federation reported, but there have been ups and downs since 1975.

In the last two years, official and public opposition to the 55-m.p.h. limit has grown, particularly for Interstates. Opponents have stressed that such highways were built to be safe at substantially higher speeds. They note that public and governmental pressure to save fuel has diminished as supplies have increased and prices have dipped. In fact, in his election campaign in 1980, President Reagan promised to abolish the national speed limit, although since he took office, his Administration has merely relaxed its compliance procedures.

Last year, 33 state legislatures debated measures to repeal or weaken the 55-mile-per-hour limit. This year such bills were considered in 24 states. Arizona, Missouri and North Dakota have voted for repeal if the Federal Government first eliminates the national limit. South Dakota, meanwhile, passed legislation to deny the public, including auto insurance companies, access to records of speeding violations up to 65 miles an hour. Arizona, Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah have replaced stiff speeding penalties with nominal ''energy wastage'' fines of only $5 to $15 for those caught driving between 55 and the pre-1974 limits in those states.

By comparison, a speeder in New York can be fined up to $100 or jailed up to 30 days or both for a first conviction, up to $200 or 90 days or both for a second conviction within 18 months and up to $500 or 180 days or both for a third conviction within 18 months. The third conviction also means revocation of the driver's license for at least six months.

Speeds are monitored on all roads posted for 55. Until relatively recently, driver could use their own radar detectors and CB radios to identify monitoring places. It is still possible to pass the word by CB when police cars are spotted, but this year for the first time, speeds in all states (though not yet on all highways, because of lack of equipment and problems with installation) were checked byautomatic, unmanned, monitoring equipment embedded in the road and undetectable by motorists.

The nationwide speed limit has been officially supported by the American Automobile Association. At the same time, however, if a member of an affiliated club asks a club for routing assistance for a projected trip, the maps that are supplied will state where 55 is strictly enforced. According to a list provided by Triple-A headquarters in Falls Church, Va., those areas are:

Kentucky - Mountain Parkway from Winchester to Salyersville. Louisiana - Entire parishes (counties) of St. Helena, Tangipahoa, Washington and St. Tammany. Maryland - Entire state, but with special emphasis on I-70 through Frederick County and I-95 from U.S. 50 to Wilson Bridge on the Potomac.

Massachusetts - Entire state.

New Hampshire - Entire state.

New Jersey - Route 57 from Washington to Phillipsburg and U.S. 22 and I-78 between Phillipsburg and I-287.

New Mexico - Entire state.

New York - Columbia County, State Route 417 from 10 miles east of Wellsville to 10 miles west of Olean, I-290 (Youngman Expressway) between I-190 and I-90 near Buffalo, I-81 through Syracuse and outlying Onondaga County, I-787 and I-90 through Albany and I-84 through Putnam County.

Ohio - I-70 through Licking County, I-70 bypass around Springfield, town of Urbana, all Tuscarawas County and I-71 from Mansfield to Delaware.

Pennsylvania - Village of Chinchilla and State Route 115 through town of Bear Creek. Tennessee - Town of Cookeville and I-40 for 25 miles east and west of Cookeville. Texas - Town of Kendleton.

Virginia - Entire state.

West Virginia - Town of Cedar Grove. Officials of both the American Bus Association and the American Trucking Association insisted that they supported the 55-m.p.h. limit but said enforcement was up to individual companies.

Yet virtually every auto driver who adheres to the 55-m.p.h. limit on a major Interstate highway these days is passed by all sorts of buses, if not by trucks. Yet officials of both Greyhound and Trailways, the nation's largest bus networks, insisted in telephone interviews that company policy was to comply with the law and that a driver caught speeding would have to pay the fine and face at least a warning and possibly dismissal.

Said Leslie Ellis White, director of public relations for Greyhound: ''Our schedules are designed so that the average running speed would be 52.1 miles per hour on express schedules.''

Last Oct. 14, while driving 60 miles an hour, according to my speedometer, on I-95 between Providence and New Haven, I was passed twice by Greyhound bus No. 5267, which seemed to be going at least 10 miles an hour faster (it had made a stop between the two overtakings). My observation was investigated by Jim Renforth, Greyhound's senior director of safety, who insisted that a governor on the bus's motor prevented the vehicle from surpassing 64. He said extra power was needed for sharp hills, but drivers were instructed to obey the law.

''Our drivers are penalized if they come into the terminal early,'' Mr. Renforth said. ''If they become late on a schedule, they're encouraged to come in late, not to try to make up time en route.''

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